The Fabius Town Board is expected to vote tonight on extending its moratorium against hydrofracking for seven months.

The meeting is at 7 p.m. at the Fabius Community Center on Route 80 in Fabius.

The moratorium extension is designed to cover the town until it gets a ban on hydrofracking in place, probably in mid-June, said Town Supervisor Melanie Vilardi. The town's existing moratorium expires in June.

A public hearing and vote on a proposed ban on hydrofracking is set for 7 p.m. June 17.

Vilardi said she expects the moratorium extension to be approved, and also thinks the board will approve the proposed ban.

"We've had few, if any, people come forward to support hydrofracking,'' she said. "We did have 40 to 50 people come out against hydrofracking at a public hearing in April, and we believe a ban is what our constituents want."

Vilardi said two of the four town board members had signed leases allowing gas companies to drill on their properties with what's known as horizontal hydraulic fracturing.

Board member Peter Schlicht said Monday he signed a lease with a Colorado gas company five years ago on his 328 acres near Highland Forest. That lease has expired, and Schlicht says he won't renew it because he's changed his mind about hydrofracking.

"When I signed up, the gas company didn't tell me everything,'' he said. "I feel bad that I ever signed it. I wasn 't told about all the chemicals they use, or what could happen to the water."

Schlicht said he's hired a lawyer in case the gas company tries to extend his lease without his consent.

Schlicht said he has voted for the moratorium in the past, and plans to vote for it again, along with the ban.

Board member James Conway also has a lease his property, but Vilardi said he's sold the property since then. He voted for the moratorium in the past, Vilardi said.

Hydrofracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves shooting chemicals and high volumes of water into rock formations under enormous pressure to release natural gas. Environmentalists argue that it poses the risk of contaminating groundwater and deep aquifers and presents other hazards like air pollution from heavy truck traffic.

The gas companies counter that the drilling will bypass drinking water supplies completely and will be governed by strict state environmental regulations.